Friday, May 10, 2019

Baby Butler #4 is 18 Weeks!!

Baby Growth:

Our sweet girl is the size of a sweet potato or a bell pepper! Although my belly looks more the baby is the size of a basketball!

My Symptoms: I’ve got some fun stuff going on this time. I was nauseas off and on ALL DAY LONG for the first 15 1/2- 16 weeks. I JUST started feeling better in the last week or so. I’m so grateful to be feeling better! I was worried when the nausea didn’t go away right at the end of the first trimester that I was going to be sick the whole time. This was definitely the most sick/nauseas/moody I’ve been yet…& I KNEW it was a girl because of how different I felt. I’ve also had a little heartburn off & on. I have a few varicose veins that are pretty intense too and will probably require some type of treatment when I’m done having babies. I also have an umbilical hernia. It’s not very big and is just slightly uncomfortable. They told me wearing a support band will help and that it may just go away on its own after the baby is born. I’ve also read it becomes less uncomfortable as the belly grows (although you wouldn’t think that). I’ve been warned that if I have any severe pain to get to the hospital ASAP, so there’s that. My upper arms are breaking out (I know that’s so random and gross- it was my back with Jase and my neck with Beau).

Weight/Belly: I’d guess probably 10-11 lbs. My belly is HUGE though! I feel like I look like I’m 6-7 months and I’m only 4 1/2. My belly is definitely the biggest it’s ever been at this stage in pregnancy. (Yes, I’m sure there is only one in there.) I’m wondering if it’s because I never fully recovered from diastasis recti after Beau. (I jumped back into too intense of exercise too quickly & did ab exercises I had no business doing post-partum.)

Gender/Name: It’s a GIRL! Before Jase was born, I had the name Emmy Kate picked out before I even decided on a boy name name. Jonathan is on board, so now we are just trying to decide whether to spell it Emmy or Emmie (leaning towards the “y” to continue with my 4 letter names). We do plan on calling her by both names.

Maternity Clothes: Not wearing them yet, but I totally should be. I wear mostly flowy shirts though & have had to leave my pants unbuttoned a few times. I am wearing a support band to help support my umbilical hernia.

Movement: I don’t know if I’m crazy, but I am almost positive I felt the first movement at 11/12 weeks. I can periodically feel movements now but nothing super consistent.

Sleep: I think I took a nap every single day I could swing it from week 8 till last week. I FINALLY have more energy! And by more, I don’t mean a lot, but at least better than it was. I told Jon I thought I might have chronic fatigue or something! (Maybe being a little dramatic, but i could barely function without a nap for like 10 weeks straight.) I haven’t been sleeping great at night because I can’t sleep on my bely anymore and I wake up every single time I roll over/flip side to side (which seems like a million times a night.) I finally busted out the pregnancy pillow last night and it helped a TON! Up until a few weeks ago, I was going to sleep about 9:30 every night after I laid the boys down.

Nutrition: I typically eat eggs + avocados + ketchup or salsa & a piece of Ezekiel toast with ghee for breakfast. Now that I’m feeling better, I try to do something green every day (either a salad, a smoothie, or juice). Definitely been eating WAY too many sweets….I eat something sweet every single day and have been baking a LOT. I randomly craved dairy for the first 12 weeks or so and was thankful when that went away. Trying to eat plenty of nuts & veggies. Loving fruit.

Work Outs: I typically work out 3-5 times a week with Jonathan. Mostly full body strength training with a body pump class mixed in once a week or so. I have ran two 5Ks but that’s about the extent of my cardio besides the 10 min warm-up I do on the elliptical. I hurt my right knee a few weeks ago and couldn’t squat at all, but thankfully the swelling and pain both finally went away (after like 2 weeks) and I can squat (just doing body weight) pain free. I’m pretty sure I hurt it because my glutes are SO tight. I’ve started foam rolling and that’s helped tremendously. I feel SO much better when I work out! I never really feel like going, & I’m not really going super hard when I get there, but I definitely have more energy, am in a better mood, and sleep (at least a little) better on days I work out.

Best Pregnancy Moment This Week: Celebrating Jase’s 6th birthday!! And hearing Jonathan talk about his “baby girl.” He is so excited & it is melting my heart already!

Goals for next week: Drink more water. (I have NOT been doing a great job with hydration this pregnancy.) Eat mostly at home. (We ate out a LOT the first trimester, so now that I’m feeling better I’ve been cooking way more.) Do some stretching & look into Buteyko breathing & meeting with a doc about implementing some iodine into my regimen.

1 comment:

Hey hey! Congratulations! I’ve posted on here before, when you were expecting Beau and so was expecting my 3rd son. I like your perspective on being a boy mom - i love it too. Like seriously. And i would have been fine with having a boy this 4th time - but we got a daughter instead! Just born this month. So I’m loving implementing pink into our world of jeans and polos. Blessings and joy to your household as you do the same, Lord willing.